Heath and Reach

Heath and Reach is an English village and civil parish near the Chiltern Hills in Bedfordshire. It is about two miles north of Leighton Buzzard and three miles south of Woburn and adjoins the county boundary with Buckinghamshire.

The parish is bounded in the south-west by the River Ouzel, in the north-east by the A5 (Watling Street), and includes the Kings's Wood nature reserve and the famous Stockgrove Country Park. Heath and Reach is also home to an 18-hole golf course and a heritage narrow gauge railway. Nearby places are Leighton-Linslade, Great Brickhill, and the Duke of Bedford's Woburn Abbey, Woburn Safari Park, and Woburn Golf Club.

There was a sizeable Roman settlement at Heath and Reach. Fragments of pottery, coins and traces of buildings were found in 1971 near Overend Green Farm, by the Roman Road, Watling Street. The village was originally two small hamlets in the Royal Manor of Leighton and records are found for Heath in 1220 and Reach in 1216. The village boasts several grade II listed properties. St Leonard's Church dates from the late 16th century.

The village lower school St Leonard's was founded by the Church of England in 1846 and used to sit on Bird's Hill until it moved to its current location on Thrift Road in 1992. The school was the first in the area to use renewable energy when it installed solar roof panels. The school's key stage 1 results remain "exceptionally above national and local averages" and Ofsted rate the school Outstanding.

Besides the church, school and golf club, the village has one restaurant, two pubs and a village store. The highest point is 480 feet above sea level. 'Heath and Reach' is also included in the postal addresses of properties in nearby Old Linslade. Leighton Buzzard Golf Club lies just to the southwest of the village.

The village's annual Pancake Race organised every Shrove Tuesday by the Heath and Reach Women's Institute is a major feature of village life, raising money for charity.

'Heath and Reach' is also the name of the political ward that sends a Councillor to Central Bedfordshire Council. It includes the villages of Heath and Reach, Hockliffe, Eggington, Stanbridge, Tilsworth, Tebworth, and Wingfield. Created in May 2011 the seat has since been held by Councillor Mark Versallion.

Henry VIII's Wars

Heath and Reach was part of the parish of Leighton and was the property of the King of England. In 1539 a Muster Roll during the reign of Henry VIII listed the fighting men of the village, those aged 16-60, as 25 males who could be relied upon to fight in Henry's wars with France and the defence of Calais.

English Civil War

As a prominent Royalist, Lord Leigh's estates were seized in 1644 and farmed out to Parliamentarians: the Royal Manor of Leighton, which included Heath and Reach, falling to Colonel John Okey, commander of the New Model Army dragoons and a signatory to the execution of Charles I. When Okey was executed for treason at the Restoration in 1660 Charles II transferred the royal manor lease back to Lord Leigh whose line continued as lords of the manor into the 19th century.

World War I

Lieutenant Robert Strong, who was killed in action near Ypres in 1915, was from Heath and Reach. The first born son of Robert Strong of Gig Lane, Robert Jr was British Army bandmaster in India prior to the war and a noted sportsman.

Lieutenant Arthur Pearson was also from Heath and Reach, a pilot of 29 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, who was awarded the Military Cross in the Battle of the Somme for "conspicuous gallantry", shot down in flames and killed 1917 by von Richthofen.